So, having reached the end of my 2017-2018 SMART goal for learning Welsh, it's time for me to set a new goal for 2018-2019. It's going to be similar. The idea of logging hours spent working on language study and practise still works best as it's measurable, unlike a vague goal like "become fluent". However, the first change I'm going to make is that I'm not going to consider myself a Welsh learner any more. I am now a Welsh speaker. I speak Welsh, reasonably fluently. I could pretty much live my life through the medium of Welsh if it were possible. (It isn't because Welsh is a minority language spoken by 20% of the population, hence the country is officially bilingual.) However, I can still improve so here is my new goal.

By mid-July 2019 I will have:

1. spent 275 hours improving, practising and using Welsh. 2. made & posted 7 videos in Welsh. 3. attended the final year of the Meistroli course 4. read 4 novels 5. gone to as many café chats as possible 6. attended all the Merched y Wawr meetings 7. attended the Easter School and Summer School

I will try and remember to do monthly updates because LJ, unlike FB etc makes it easy to look back on previous posts to check on progress.

I will also be saying more about the videos in due course. The first one is in the editing stage and they will be subtitled, so you don't need to understand Welsh to watch them.

I think I have to accept that I'm not a "learner" any more. Obviously there's always more to learn, so in one sense even native speakers of a language are always learning because language changes and new words arise, but I need to just think of myself as being bilingual for all practical purposes.

I will post a link to the first video when I finally get it on Youtube. :)